April 2024 – Page 2 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

April 10, 2024 Nancy FR

Now that we have been able to move on from the issue with the French court system we can get back to what we come to Europe for, traveling and exploring new places. We were both ready to get going this morning and were up bright and early so we were on the road well before 10 am which is our normal departure time.

The French countryside in the spring is absolutely beautiful.

The first 90 kilometers of our drive today was along back roads in the Burgundy and Champagne regions. This is one of the most beautiful agricultural areas we have ever seen, and every time we drive here we really enjoy ourselves. While the roads are not particularly fast, the scenery along the way is enchanting and we did not mind the slower pace.

Ton loves the contrast between the yellow of the canola crop and the bright greens of the other fields. Spring in France is one of her favorite places to take pictures.

Eventually we ended up on an Autoroute for the last 200 kilometers of our trip. We play a game called toll road “Price Is Right” where we guess the price for a toll on a section of road. When Ton named her price for this stretch of road, I thought she was way over. Unfortunately, she won with a couple of Euros to spare.

Tonight we are sharing our Aire with the canal boat docks for the city. The location is fantastic for exploring the city.

Nancy is a city in Northeast France that is a little off the tourist path, but had nice write ups. The first impression was of a busy medium sized city. I was thinking as we were driving into Nancy that when we first arrived I would have been very stressed with the traffic in downtown Nancy. Now I have a much better sense of how to go with the flow of European city traffic and while it required paying some attention, it wasn’t super stressful. Even when we missed the turn into the motorhome Aire and I instead turned into a narrow parking lot that we couldn’t turn François around in, we stopped and assessed our situation and Ton came up with a great solution. She got out and guided me back down the road in the parking lot while she stopped traffic until we got just past the entrance to the parking lot, then I put it in first, she jumped in, and we circled the block until we got to proper entrance of the aire.

Some of the roads in downtown Nancy, this corner has great art work.

Once we found the entrance to the aire which is managed by the Captain of the Port of Nancy we were given a very warm welcome by one of the workers who went out of his way to show us all of the amenities of the aire. When he found out we were from the US he wanted to know what state we were from, and even knew where Oregon was. He explained that part of his course at the tourism school he attended was US geography. We later played name the state capitol with him, and the only one he didn’t get right was Alabama.

The Port of Nancy where we are staying is a couple of hundred miles from the coast on a canal off of the Meurthe River.

After we registered the manager heard our name and asked if we were here to visit the Corbin Museum. We told him we did not know there was a Corbin Museum, and he said that technically the museum is called Museum de L’Ecole de Nancy, but it was founded by Eugene Corbin. It turns out Eugene Corbin was the richest guy in Nancy around 1900 and was the patron of the Art Deco movement that Nancy is famous for in France. So tomorrow we will visit the “Corbin Museum”.

What Nancy is really famous for is Stanislas Square which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was the center of the Duchy of Lorraine which existed in the late 1700’s. We took a quick walk to the square and it is quite impressive, and we will explore it more tomorrow.

One of the wrought iron gates that lead into Stanislas Square.

Nancy has made a great first impression on us. First we have a distant rich relative from here, the first people we met in the city were extremely nice and friendly, and it is one of the most walkable cities we have seen in Europe, and Stanislas Square is quite striking. We are really looking forward to spending some more time here tomorrow.

April 9, 2024 Migennes FR

Last night right after I fell asleep, a large thunderstorm swept thru. It started with about 10 minutes of peas sized hail which makes quite a racket hitting a camper made mostly out of plastic. The storm lasted about an hour with a good amount of rain, and a few nearby lightning strikes. Then everything quieted down, but it was noticeably cooler.

Today turned out to be our last day for our administrative stop in France. Once again we were on our way early to the Hotel de Police to drop off our appeal. We arrived at the police and were warmly greeted by Officer Nikolas, and the nice clerk whose name we never got. They took a look at our documents, told us that they were fine, and then took them back into the office, while we waited in the lobby. Officer Nikolas and another policeman made some small talk about our travels for a few minutes until the very nice clerk came out and told us the documents had been successfully sent to the administrator. Officer Nikolas then said we should hear something from the administrator in a little while and wished us a “bon journey”, and we were on our way.

We stopped at the office of Eurocampingcars to ask them to keep an eye out for a response to our appeal. Sandrine the owner of Eurocampingcars told us that several of their clients had run into the same problem, and she said it appears the English website to pay fines in France does not allow you to list the name of the driver due to a problem with a link. She called the police to pass this information on to help with our appeal. Now we just have to wait and see if our appeal is successful.

We were back at the campground a little earlier than planned so another load of laundry went into the washer, and we spent the rest of the afternoon planning the next stage of our travels. Tomorrow we are back on the road to begin a slow trek north towards our primary destination of Poland, and the Baltic States.

April 8, 2024 Migennes FR

We were up bright and early in anticipation of our visit to the Hotel de Police in Sens. We were both a little nervous last night not knowing quite what to expect. The drive up to Sens was uneventful, except it started to rain again, and rained hard the rest of the morning.

We found the Hotel de Police no problem, but we had to look around for a few minutes to find a place to park François. Luckily the police station was next to the hospital and we found parking in a large lot there. Just as we were at the door to the police station 4 National Police officers walked up and asked us in French what we wanted. I hit them with my well rehearsed “I’m sorry I don’t speak French”, and before I could continue to my equally well rehearsed ” Do you speak English”, one of the younger of the officers asked ” Do you speak English?”, when I affirmed I do, he said “Then I will be helping you today.” So we were off to a good start.

We were invited in and told to take a seat in the lobby. After a few minutes Officer Nikola came out and asked how he could help. I handed him all of our paperwork and gave told him our story. He asked a few questions, asked for a copy of the registration for the car and my passport. He said wait a few minutes. After a few minutes he came back out with a clerk, and she asked a few more questions about our Societe Civile, then told us to wait a few minutes again. They finally came out and explained that we had not responded to the ticket we had received in 2023 with the name of the driver, and had not responded to a second request for the name of the driver. I explained to Officer Nikola that we had paid the fine as soon as we received it, and he acknowledged that, but the issue was not providing the name of the driver. I told him I was the driver and would have been happy to say that if we knew it was required, and that we had not received the second request.

Officer Nikola and the clerk had a short conversation in French, and told me that it was “not unusual” for the documents requesting the name of the driver to not be received in the post. He said this in a very neutral way, not denying what I was saying was true, but also implying that he hears that quite often. I appreciated his professionalism.

He then explained how we could appeal the finding of the administrator. He said that we needed to mail a statement telling the story I had just told him to the office we were at in Sens. I asked if we could hand deliver it, and he asked the clerk and she smiled and said “oui”. But then she told us one condition that we did not expect. She stated that the appeal needed to be in writing by hand, not typed. I looked at Officer Nikola and he confirmed written by hand is much preferred. After we submit the document he said we would know the answer of the administrator within 90 days.

From arrival to departure was less than an hour, and both the clerk, and Officer Nikola were very helpful and courteous. They were patient in answering all of our questions, and provided us with helpful information.

Armed with the information we returned to the campground with a plan. I would write our appeal in English, then I would take my English and put it into Google translate, we would ask the manager of the campground to confirm that googles translation was accurate, and finally Ton would hand write our appeal in French based on googles translation. It took most of the afternoon to write the appeal, have the French verified, and then write it out in French by hand. Ton definitely got the worst of the bargain with the handwriting part.

Tomorrow we will be heading back up to Sens to drop our appeal off, and see what happens.

April 7, 2024 Migennes FR

Today is going to be another short post. After two days of long driving we decided to take a day of rest. We slept in late and enjoyed a quiet day poking around the campground. After a couple of weeks of bad weather today was warm. One of the good things about all of the rain is the trees and flowers are in full bloom. One of our random observations that is probably not true in reality is that the song birds in France sing more and are louder than anywhere else we have been.

The trees are really flowering at the municipal tennis courts next to the campground.

I finally coaxed Ton out for a short walk. Her heart was not really in it, so we never got out of the industrial area next to the campground.

This vine was full of seeds ready for the next wind to send them on their way.

The reason we have taken a 4oo mile detour in the wrong direction is right before we left for this trip we received a notice that we owed a substantial fine to the French government. The problem is this is the first notice of this fine we ever received. It is not a fine that you would get for a speeding or parking ticket but for something more substantial. We have no idea what we could have done to get such a large fine, or why we received no prior notice that we had done something wrong. After sending an inquiry to the office we received the notice from we still are not sure what is going on. We received some more information that it was for failing to identify someone who had been speeding, but this is the first time we have never heard of this issue, and never received a ticket or notice that we needed to identify someone to the police. The tax office which is responsible for collecting the fine told us that we needed to go to the police in Sens to find out more about what we have been fined for. So tomorrow we are off to Sens to try to understand what is going on. We have showed our documentation to a couple of people who are fluent in French, and they are also equally shocked about the amount, and also cannot figure out what exactly we are being fined for. Wish us luck.

April 6, 2024 Migennes FR

Another busy day for us, but not terribly interesting for a blog. We woke up early and got on the Autoroute heading south towards Paris. Our destination today was Migennes in Burgundy, the total drive was a little more than yesterday, but today was Saturday so the traffic was lighter.

One of Tons favorite things in France are the canola fields, they are in full bloom right now.

The good news is that our route took us right by one of the two Costcos in Paris, so of course a stop was in order. We enjoyed a two hour stroll thru Costco, and now the refrigerator, and all of the cupboards are stocked with our favorite goodies. My only disappointment was that they were temporarily out of hot dogs, so I had to settle for a large portion of French Fries from the snack bar.

The campground we are staying at is next to a large soccer and rugby complex that is currently part of the Yonne River, this dog didn’t mind at all.

The rest of the drive was uneventful, and the traffic south of Paris was very light, so I managed to use cruise control most of the way. I know I have been whining a lot about rain, but when we pulled into the campground we saw the soccer/rugby fields next to it were flooded. It turns out that the campground we are staying at was on short notice to evacuate due to the heavy rains. Luckily it wasn’t necessary, but apparently it was close according to the campground manager.

The Yonne River running high, but mostly back in its banks.

Lastly, Happy Birthday to my beautiful wife.

April 5, 2024 Arras FR

Today was a very busy day for us, but not a very interesting one to write about. We need to be in our “home” city of Sens France for a few days to take care of an administrative matter that we will talk about later, so today we picked a spot about half way there near Arras.

We were off early and had 300 kilometers to cover to Arras which is in northern France. The drive was mostly freeways thru the Netherlands and Belgium. We passed thru 3 major cities, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, and Lille in France. After a busy but relatively uneventful drive we arrived at a nice family run campground in a small village near Arras. While the drive was busy the whole way we made better time than I thought we would so we arrived during lunch. We were not too concerned when we pulled in and no one was in reception as most campgrounds close for a couple of hours during mid-day for lunch. There were cars around, and the place looked lived in. We decided to go fill François up with fuel, and to run thru a French grocery to get some of our favorite French foods.

We returned to the campground about 3 pm and as we pulled in a gentleman drove up on a tractor, and told me they were closed until April 15. He said that business has been slow in the spring and with all of the rain the ground in the campground is too soft. He recommended an aire in Arras that was about 15 minutes away, and that is where we are now. I made a quick run into Arras and took todays photos which account for the low quality. Otherwise today was just a busy travel day.

April 4, 2024 Delft NE

We woke up to rain pounding and wind shaking François. Our original plans were to go to a famous tulip farm not too far away. Ton checked the weather forecast, and said the rain was supposed to stop around 1 pm. Since the tulip farm was very expensive to visit and we would have to pack up François and drive him there, we both rolled over and slept in instead.

This is the canal near the campground, with a bird fighting the wind above it.

After a nice leisurely breakfast we just chilled in François for most of the morning. The steady pounding rain eventually turned to occasional showers. Then just as predicted about 1pm the rain stopped and we saw blue skies, but if anything the wind got stronger.

The wind blowing the Ikea flags at the store near the campground.

After some discussion and looking at maps we decided to visit the Ikea next to the campground. We knew we could kill a good amount of time window shopping, and we have never been in one in Europe.

The Ikea was only about 1/2 mile from the campground.

Well, the Ikea’s in Europe are full of the same stuff they are full of in the US. But it was fun walking thru and looking at the displays. This one seemed a little larger than the one we have in Portland. In the end we picked up a couple of little things for François, but the bill was less than €5, so it was a pretty inexpensive experience. On the way back thru the park between Ikea and the campground, we saw a few Tulips blooming, so Ton took a couple of pictures to give us a very small tulip experience for the day.

April 3, 2024 The Hague NE

Last night it rained steadily until early morning. We really have not had a good day since we arrived, but last night was probably the worst. The first thing I did when I got up was check the weather forecast, and the rain we had last night was forecast to continue for the next 48 hours except for a short 3 to 4 hour window today. We had originally planned to go to the Hague for the day, but I looked at a couple of options if the weather was really as bad as forecast

As you can see from this picture the weather was not nearly as bad as forecast.

When Ton got up, she thought about the options for about one minute and said if it rains it rains, let’s go the Hague. So after confirming we could extend our stay another day we were off to the Tram for the Hague.

The Hague is most famous internationally for the Palace of Peace, which is the home of the International Court of Justice, and the International Court of Arbitration. They are both housed in the Palace of Peace which was built in the early 1900’s. I learned today that the Palace of Peace was largely funded by Andrew Carnegie. He put up the money for the design and the initial construction. Unfortunately, the Palace of Peace was finished in 1913, less than one year before the outbreak of WWI. The grounds can only be seen by organized tours, but we stopped into the visitors center and saw a nice presentation on the history of the Palace, and the role of the International Courts of Justice and Arbitration.

This beautiful street is lined by stately embassies of the worlds powers. The US embassy is located here, but like most US embassies it is not stately, but a giant concrete block with tiny windows, for security reasons our embassies are really ugly.

Ton wanted to check out an old bookstore in the center of the Hague, so we had a pleasant stroll thru a neighborhood of embassies, and stately old homes. As we were wandering we came across the official office of the Netherlands Royal Family. They don’t live in this particular building, but it is where they work. It was understated as palaces go but still fairly impressive.

The working offices of the Netherlands Royal Family.

Outside the Palace of Peace, the Hague or as the people who live here call it Den Haag is more of a working town without a lot of sights to see. So having taken in most of the sights we decided to head into the city center to see what we would see.

Part of the center of the Hague, Ton liked the art on the roof of the apartments on the left.

We had originally planned on having coffee in the book store Ton wanted to visit, but when we got there the only seats were outside, and today was not a sit outside kind of day. Since I’m complaining about things today, another pet peeve of mine is people using public spaces particularly coffee shops as offices. The only reason we could not enjoy the interior of this beautiful coffee shop is that almost all the tables were occupied by someone with their laptop opened up, working on something. Most of them did not even have a coffee on the table, and a couple were having video calls. I guess I’m feeling a little grumpy today.

But because of all of the people squatting at the tables in the coffee shop, we found a wonderful restaurant a few blocks down that served great Apple Pie, which we made into our lunch. Ton and I have been looking to try Dutch Apple Pie, and when we saw a lunch special of Apple Pie and a coffee we dived in. The only confusion for me is that this restaurant was a “Belgian” restaurant, down to having a menu with a Belgian flag on it. Whether it was Dutch Apple Pie, or Belgian Apple Pie, it was very good Apple Pie.

Bicycles are everywhere in the Netherlands.

It was starting to rain, and as we were walking we came across the tram stop for Delft, so we jumped on and headed on back. It was raining hard when we got onto the train, but by the time we were back in Delft, it had stopped and the sun came out. Tons decision to stick with the original plan was a good one.

We had beautiful blue skies as we walked back to the campground.

April 2, 2024 Delft NE

After a week in Amsterdam we decided it was time to get on the road, so we moved all of 70 kilometers south to Delft in South Holland. Our first stop was back to the Asian Grocery we had gone the first day as Ton wanted to stock up on some more goods for our trip. After stocking up with good noodles, some nice Thai sauces, and spices, we jumped on the freeway and turned south.

We also needed propane as we have used quite a bit so far on this trip. Daytime highs have been in the low to mid 50’s and overnight lows in the low to mid-40’s. The first night we tried to tough it out without heat, but after that night we both decided that we would run the heat at night. On the way south on the freeway we saw a Shell station that sold LP so I pulled in. François has a refillable gas system that is compatible with the LP gas pumps in the gas stations here. The only issue is that there are three different ways to connect those pumps to the fill point. I have used the French and German systems in the past, these have adaptors that I screw onto the connector permanently attached to the bottles, that connector is known as the English system. The Netherlands uses the English system, which theoretically should be the easiest as it is the one permanently connected to the bottle. Just to be safe I looked at a youtube video on how to do it, and thought I was ready as propane is self service in the Netherlands.

Looking across at the town hall on the market square in Delft.

But despite my homework I could not get the hose connected, even with another look at youtube. I finally gave up and went looking for help. A nice gentleman named Andre came out to show me how to do it, but he could not get it connected either. Together we finally figured out that the screws they had used to mount the fill point to the door on the propane locker was interfering with the hose connection. We temporarily backed the screws out of the way and the hose attached properly and we quickly filled the tanks. Once we were done filling. Andre helped tighten the screws back so that the fill point stayed in place, and we were on our way. Once again, a complete stranger bent over backwards to help us out when we were in need. Many thanks to Andre as we now have plenty of gas to keep François comfy at night.

About 20 minutes later we arrived at the campground in Delft. Despite the propane mis-adventure it was still before noon. When I went into the reception I heard one of the receptionists telling someone on the phone that they were completely full. As soon as she hung up I asked if we could stay, and she said they were full, but she then said something to the other lady in Dutch and after looking at the computer for 30 seconds or so she said she could give me a spot for tonight. It turns out that business is unexpectedly good, they have a caravan of 14 RV’s coming in today, and the very wet spring has caused them to close a few spots that are too soft to use.

Street art with famous people from Delft.

After settling François in his spot we headed to Delft. Delft is a relatively small city, but has produced more than its fair share of famous Dutch people. The one they seem to take the most pride in is Vermeer the artist as his name is all over the town.

As we were walking to Delft the sky let loose and in addition to the rain the wind was blowing enough to try to pull the umbrella from our hands. Ton saw a lot of good photo opportunities so she was pretty much ignoring the bad weather. I ended up recommending that we go into a coffee shop and see if we could wait out the rain. She reluctantly agreed.

Ton is not going to let a little rain get in the way of a good photo.

After about 45 minutes the rain stopped and we continued our walk around Delft which is a beautiful city. The center is pretty small, but there is a lot to take in, and we enjoyed ourselves.

This windmill was originally used to power the grain mill for the town.

Ton had handed me a list of key places to see in town, and all but two of them were with 100 yards of the market square. The other two were about a 10 minute walk away.

Our last stop for the day was a short detour to a grocery store to pick up a couple of essentials, the primary one being a bottle of wine for dinner. We then headed back to François, and just as we arrived the sun broke thru and the rest of the day was beautiful and sunny.

The store on the left has been in business continuously since the 1780’s.

April 1, 2024 Amsterdam NE

Mother nature pulled an Aprils fool joke on us today. The weather forecast last night was pretty terrible for today, so we decided to use it as a wash and clean up day. Of course it was one of the nicest days since we had been here, no rain, and not super cold. By the time we realized it was a going to be a good day it was too late to plan something. Tomorrow we are heading south to Delft.